China, US look for tourism growth

China and the United States hope to reach a bench­mark of 5 mil­lion tourist trips as soon as pos­si­ble.

Last year, the num­ber of trips be­tween the na­tions sur­passed 4.75 mil­lion, “which makes us con­fi­dent to pro­mote fur­ther co­op­er­a­tion with US part­ners in tourism in­sur­ance, tourism res­cue, and tourism ta­lent ex­changes and cul­ti­va­tion,” said Li Jin­zao, chair­man of the China Na­tional Tourism Ad­min­is­tra­tion.

He said that the 10-year visa pol­icy, which came into ef­fect in Novem­ber, has trig­gered a boom in travel to the US, while trips from the US to China be­tween Jan­uary and June reached 1.12 mil­lion, up 8.4 per­cent year-on-year.

“We will pro­tect the rights and in­ter­ests of tourists from both sides by im­prov­ing su­per­vi­sion in the tourism mar­ket,” Li said.